The average refund rose slightly through March 8, continuing a steady increase regisered in each weekly report issued by the Internal Revenue Service this year. The average refund was $3,008, an increase of .1 percent, from $3,004 from the period through March 9, 2018.
Returns received also continued to close the gap on the 2018 tax season, reaching 67,721,000 for the season reported to date, down 2.5 percent from 69,484,000. That is better than for the season through March 1 in which returns received were off by 3.2 percent over the comparable period through 2018.
Efile receipts fell to 64,299,000 for this year's season through March 8, down 1.5 percent from 65,270,000 in last year's corresponding period. Tax professionals submitted 31,942,000 efiled returns, a drop of 4.6 percent from 33,495,000 a year earlier. Self-prepared returns rose to 32,357,000, an increase of 1.8 percent from 31,775,000.
Bob Scott has provided information to the tax and accounting community since 1991, first as technology editor of Accounting Today, and from 1997 through 2009 as editor of its sister publication, Accounting Technology. He is known throughout the industry for his depth of knowledge and for his high journalistic standards. Scott has made frequent appearances as a speaker, moderator and panelist and events serving tax and accounting professionals. He has a strong background in computer journalism as an editor with two former trade publications, Computer+Software News and MIS Week and spent several years with weekly and daily newspapers in Morris County New Jersey prior to that. A graduate of Indiana University with a degree in journalism, Bob is a native of Madison, Ind